Linebackers Coach
"Jim Carr has been either playing or coaching in the National Football League for more than 20 years. Appointed to the Bills' staff in February, Carr spent the 1975-76 seasons as defensive coordinator and secondary coach of the Detroit Lions. He was the architect of the Lion defense that wound up third in the NFL rankings a year ago.
A 1954 graduate of Morris Harvey College in Charlestown, West Virginia, Carr was a two-way halfback. He won a job as a defensive halfback with the Chicago Cardinals in 1955 and played three seasons with the Redbirds before landing with the CFL Montreal Alouettes in 1958. Carr spent five seasons (1959-63) with the Philadelphia Eagles, helping Philly to the NFL Championship in 1960. He closed out his career with two years in Washington (1964-65).
Carr made a quick transition from player to coach, joining Norm Van Brocklin's Minnesota staff in 1966. He went to Chicago in 1969, was with Philadelphia during the 1970-72 seasons, returned to Chicago for 1973-74 and moved on to Detroit in 1975."
-Buffalo Bills 1977 Press-Radio-TV Yearbook
Wednesday, December 30, 2015
Monday, December 28, 2015
1977 Profile: Bruce Beatty
Special Teams Coach
"New special teams coach Bruce Beatty is linked with two of pro football's most hallowed shrines- Canton and Miami, Ohio. He was born in Canton, home of the legendary Bulldogs and the site of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He played (1948-50) and was an assistant for five years (1951-55) at Miami, the widely acclaimed 'Cradle of Coaches' which has spawned such giants as Brown, Hayes and Parseghian.
An All-Mid-American Conference tackle, Beatty played two other positions during his undergraduate career, seeing service at both linebacker and end. He passed up a pro playing career to take a position on the Redskin's coaching staff immediately after graduation. From Miami, Beatty moved to Northwestern where he stayed for 14 years (1955-68) as an assistant coach and talent scout.
The Patriots tapped him as offensive line coach in 1969. He remained with New England through the 1972 season when he accepted a defensive position (line) on the Oiler staff. After a year in Houston and a year out of football, Beatty was named offensive line coach of the Lions. He spent two seasons in Detroit (1975-76) before accepting Jim Ringo's offer to join the Buffalo staff."
-Buffalo Bills 1977 Press-Radio-TV Yearbook
"New special teams coach Bruce Beatty is linked with two of pro football's most hallowed shrines- Canton and Miami, Ohio. He was born in Canton, home of the legendary Bulldogs and the site of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He played (1948-50) and was an assistant for five years (1951-55) at Miami, the widely acclaimed 'Cradle of Coaches' which has spawned such giants as Brown, Hayes and Parseghian.
An All-Mid-American Conference tackle, Beatty played two other positions during his undergraduate career, seeing service at both linebacker and end. He passed up a pro playing career to take a position on the Redskin's coaching staff immediately after graduation. From Miami, Beatty moved to Northwestern where he stayed for 14 years (1955-68) as an assistant coach and talent scout.
The Patriots tapped him as offensive line coach in 1969. He remained with New England through the 1972 season when he accepted a defensive position (line) on the Oiler staff. After a year in Houston and a year out of football, Beatty was named offensive line coach of the Lions. He spent two seasons in Detroit (1975-76) before accepting Jim Ringo's offer to join the Buffalo staff."
-Buffalo Bills 1977 Press-Radio-TV Yearbook
Tuesday, December 22, 2015
1977 Profile: Jim Ringo
Head Coach
"Ringo started for years under Vince Lombardi, but is not getting Lombardi-type results. His coaching career got off to a slow start last year when the team was 0-9 after he took over. The players think he'll win one sooner or later, though. Despite his record, they wanted him back again.
Credited with developing the 'Electric Company' while offensive line coach from 1972-76, Ringo learned his business while playing center on great Green Bay teams. After playing for Ben Schwartzwalder at Syracuse and Lombardi at Green Bay, he should know something about discipline. He's not a screamer, but he boils inside.
Ringo took over the Bills when Lou Saban walked out two days before the sixth game of the year. Unless he figures out how to put together a defense quickly, his coaching career will be a short one."
-Rich Kucner, The Complete Handbook of Pro Football, 1977 Edition
"'I started thinking about being a player and coach when I was five or six years old and I never stopped.'
Jim Ringo's dream- to be a head coach in the National Football League- became reality on October 15, 1976 when he was named to replace Lou Saban as boss of the Buffalo Bills.
'We wanted a man we could build a future upon,' Bills owner Ralph Wilson said at the time of the coaching change, 'and we feel Jim is such a man.'
In nine games under Ringo last fall, the Bills lost by a little and a lot but, as he is quick to point out, 'they never ACCEPTED losing. The distinction is important. It turns last year agony into this year's anticipation.'
Early frustration is not new to Ringo. When he joined the Packers as a seventh round draft choice out of Syracuse University, Green Bay was a franchise in ferment. In Jim's first season (1953), the Pack was a punchless 2-9-1 and, over the next five years, their best mark was a break-even 6-6 in 1955.
Ringo endured ... and, ultimately, he succeeded.
He made the All-Pro team in 1957, no small feat for the center on a 3-9 club that finished dead last in the NFL's Western Conference. It became an annual honor for the Syracuse product, who was selected eight times before he retired in 1967. He also made 10 appearances in the Pro Bowl.
Ringo's quiet leadership won the respect of his Packer teammates who elected him Green Bay captain eight times.
In 1959, Vince Lombardi arrived in Green Bay and Packers fortunes turned sharply upward. Green Bay won the Western Division title in 1960 and the NFL Championship in 1961 and 1962.
Traded to the Philadelphia Eagles after 11 seasons with the Packers, Jim played four years in Philadelphia before retiring. He established a National Football record for endurance, playing in 182 straight games over his 14 campaigns.
Appointed offensive line coach of the Chicago Bears in 1969, Ringo stayed there three seasons before leaving to accept a similar position with the Bills in 1972.
Like the Packers of the early 1950's, the Bills of the early 1970's were long on problems, short on solutions. Buffalo was recovering from a 1-13 season in 1971 and was especially talent-thin on the offensive line. To add to the dilemma, seven guards or centers were lost to injuries in 1972. Despite it all, Buffalo improved its rushing production by 800 yards over 1971 and O.J. Simpson won his first NFL ground-gaining title.
A year later, the Bills were the talk of professional football and the offensive line the cornerstone of the attack. The 1973 season will be remembered as the year Simpson broke the 2,000-yard rushing barrier and Buffalo became the first club to gain more than 3,000 yards on the ground.
The Bills' 1973 offensive line was named NFL Blockers of the Year by the National 1,000-Yard Foundation, the first time an entire unit had been so cited. Ringo was also honored by the 1,000-Yard Foundation as NFL Assistant Coach of the Year for, as one writer said at the time, 'a coaching job that ranks with the best of his All-Pro accomplishments as a player.'
Two Buffalo offensive linemen won All-Pro laurels under Ringo's tutelage- guard Reggie McKenzie in 1973 and guard Joe DeLamielleure in 1975 and again last fall. DeLamielleure has appeared in two Pro Bowl games (1976, 1977) and tackle Dave Foley in one (1974).
In 15 seasons as a player and seven years as an assistant coach, Jim Ringo has established a reputation as an ultimate professional.
Professional ... no one word is more descriptive of the head coach of the Buffalo Bills."
-Buffalo Bills 1977 Press-Radio-TV Yearbook
"Ringo started for years under Vince Lombardi, but is not getting Lombardi-type results. His coaching career got off to a slow start last year when the team was 0-9 after he took over. The players think he'll win one sooner or later, though. Despite his record, they wanted him back again.
Credited with developing the 'Electric Company' while offensive line coach from 1972-76, Ringo learned his business while playing center on great Green Bay teams. After playing for Ben Schwartzwalder at Syracuse and Lombardi at Green Bay, he should know something about discipline. He's not a screamer, but he boils inside.
Ringo took over the Bills when Lou Saban walked out two days before the sixth game of the year. Unless he figures out how to put together a defense quickly, his coaching career will be a short one."
-Rich Kucner, The Complete Handbook of Pro Football, 1977 Edition
"'I started thinking about being a player and coach when I was five or six years old and I never stopped.'
Jim Ringo's dream- to be a head coach in the National Football League- became reality on October 15, 1976 when he was named to replace Lou Saban as boss of the Buffalo Bills.
'We wanted a man we could build a future upon,' Bills owner Ralph Wilson said at the time of the coaching change, 'and we feel Jim is such a man.'
In nine games under Ringo last fall, the Bills lost by a little and a lot but, as he is quick to point out, 'they never ACCEPTED losing. The distinction is important. It turns last year agony into this year's anticipation.'
Early frustration is not new to Ringo. When he joined the Packers as a seventh round draft choice out of Syracuse University, Green Bay was a franchise in ferment. In Jim's first season (1953), the Pack was a punchless 2-9-1 and, over the next five years, their best mark was a break-even 6-6 in 1955.
Ringo endured ... and, ultimately, he succeeded.
He made the All-Pro team in 1957, no small feat for the center on a 3-9 club that finished dead last in the NFL's Western Conference. It became an annual honor for the Syracuse product, who was selected eight times before he retired in 1967. He also made 10 appearances in the Pro Bowl.
Ringo's quiet leadership won the respect of his Packer teammates who elected him Green Bay captain eight times.
In 1959, Vince Lombardi arrived in Green Bay and Packers fortunes turned sharply upward. Green Bay won the Western Division title in 1960 and the NFL Championship in 1961 and 1962.
Traded to the Philadelphia Eagles after 11 seasons with the Packers, Jim played four years in Philadelphia before retiring. He established a National Football record for endurance, playing in 182 straight games over his 14 campaigns.
Appointed offensive line coach of the Chicago Bears in 1969, Ringo stayed there three seasons before leaving to accept a similar position with the Bills in 1972.
Like the Packers of the early 1950's, the Bills of the early 1970's were long on problems, short on solutions. Buffalo was recovering from a 1-13 season in 1971 and was especially talent-thin on the offensive line. To add to the dilemma, seven guards or centers were lost to injuries in 1972. Despite it all, Buffalo improved its rushing production by 800 yards over 1971 and O.J. Simpson won his first NFL ground-gaining title.
A year later, the Bills were the talk of professional football and the offensive line the cornerstone of the attack. The 1973 season will be remembered as the year Simpson broke the 2,000-yard rushing barrier and Buffalo became the first club to gain more than 3,000 yards on the ground.
The Bills' 1973 offensive line was named NFL Blockers of the Year by the National 1,000-Yard Foundation, the first time an entire unit had been so cited. Ringo was also honored by the 1,000-Yard Foundation as NFL Assistant Coach of the Year for, as one writer said at the time, 'a coaching job that ranks with the best of his All-Pro accomplishments as a player.'
Two Buffalo offensive linemen won All-Pro laurels under Ringo's tutelage- guard Reggie McKenzie in 1973 and guard Joe DeLamielleure in 1975 and again last fall. DeLamielleure has appeared in two Pro Bowl games (1976, 1977) and tackle Dave Foley in one (1974).
In 15 seasons as a player and seven years as an assistant coach, Jim Ringo has established a reputation as an ultimate professional.
Professional ... no one word is more descriptive of the head coach of the Buffalo Bills."
-Buffalo Bills 1977 Press-Radio-TV Yearbook
Saturday, December 19, 2015
1977 Profile: Budd Thalman
Vice-President, Public Relations
"Budd Thalman came to the Buffalo organization in 1973 after spending 11 years as Sports Information Director at the U.S. Naval Academy.
A native of Wheeling, West Virginia, he is a 1957 journalism graduate of West Virginia University. He worked for one year in the Associated Press bureau in Huntington, West Virginia before entering the Army where he served from 1958-60 as Public Information Officer for Fort Jay, Governor's Island, New York.
Thalman returned to the AP in 1960, transferring to the Annapolis, Maryland bureau. He went to the Naval Academy in January 1962."
-Buffalo Bills 1977 Press-Radio-TV Yearbook
"Budd Thalman came to the Buffalo organization in 1973 after spending 11 years as Sports Information Director at the U.S. Naval Academy.
A native of Wheeling, West Virginia, he is a 1957 journalism graduate of West Virginia University. He worked for one year in the Associated Press bureau in Huntington, West Virginia before entering the Army where he served from 1958-60 as Public Information Officer for Fort Jay, Governor's Island, New York.
Thalman returned to the AP in 1960, transferring to the Annapolis, Maryland bureau. He went to the Naval Academy in January 1962."
-Buffalo Bills 1977 Press-Radio-TV Yearbook
Thursday, December 17, 2015
1977 Profile: Jim Cipriano
Ticket Director
"Tickets have always been Jim Cipriano's business. Starting with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad following World War II service in the U.S. Marine Corps, later with the Pennsylvania Railroad and the University of Pittsburgh athletic department, Cipriano has accumulated almost 30 years of experience in his profession. The likable native of Youngstown, Ohio was named Bills Ticket Director in April 1969.
Prior to his Buffalo appointment, Cipriano was Assistant Business Manager of Athletics for 12 years at the University of Pittsburgh."
-Buffalo Bills 1977 Press-Radio-TV Guide
"Tickets have always been Jim Cipriano's business. Starting with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad following World War II service in the U.S. Marine Corps, later with the Pennsylvania Railroad and the University of Pittsburgh athletic department, Cipriano has accumulated almost 30 years of experience in his profession. The likable native of Youngstown, Ohio was named Bills Ticket Director in April 1969.
Prior to his Buffalo appointment, Cipriano was Assistant Business Manager of Athletics for 12 years at the University of Pittsburgh."
-Buffalo Bills 1977 Press-Radio-TV Guide
Monday, December 14, 2015
1977 Profile: Stew Barber
Assistant General Manager
'An All-AFL lineman in his playing days, Stew Barber steps into a new role for the Bills. After two years as a college talent scout, Barber has been promoted to assistant general manager. His responsibilities include the annual college draft, the signing of all veteran and rookie players and the coordination of the college and pro scouting effort.
'We are putting a heavy burden on Stew,' owner Ralph Wilson said in defining his duties, 'but, as he demonstrated first as a player and more recently as a college scout, he is equal to the assignment.'
The Bills' fourth round draft choice out of Penn State in 1961, Barber was also drafted by Dallas of the NFL in the third round. He elected for Buffalo, and over the next nine seasons played in 112 consecutive regularly-scheduled games, was a five-time All-AFL selection and appeared in four League all-star games. Barber was a member of both of the Bills' AFL championship teams.
An All-East tackle for the Nittany Lions, Barber played in the Liberty Bowl, the Blue-Grey game, and the College All-America and College All-Star Games. He earned his college degree in economics and real estate.
After a stint in private business and some part-time scouting duties with the Bills, Barber landed a pro coaching job with the New York Stars of the World Football League. He moved with the WFL franchise when it transferred to Charlotte before it finally folded. Barber caught on with the WFL Chicago Wind in 1975 but left to accept a scouting position with the Bills."
-Buffalo Bills 1977 Press-Radio-TV Yearbook
'An All-AFL lineman in his playing days, Stew Barber steps into a new role for the Bills. After two years as a college talent scout, Barber has been promoted to assistant general manager. His responsibilities include the annual college draft, the signing of all veteran and rookie players and the coordination of the college and pro scouting effort.
'We are putting a heavy burden on Stew,' owner Ralph Wilson said in defining his duties, 'but, as he demonstrated first as a player and more recently as a college scout, he is equal to the assignment.'
The Bills' fourth round draft choice out of Penn State in 1961, Barber was also drafted by Dallas of the NFL in the third round. He elected for Buffalo, and over the next nine seasons played in 112 consecutive regularly-scheduled games, was a five-time All-AFL selection and appeared in four League all-star games. Barber was a member of both of the Bills' AFL championship teams.
An All-East tackle for the Nittany Lions, Barber played in the Liberty Bowl, the Blue-Grey game, and the College All-America and College All-Star Games. He earned his college degree in economics and real estate.
After a stint in private business and some part-time scouting duties with the Bills, Barber landed a pro coaching job with the New York Stars of the World Football League. He moved with the WFL franchise when it transferred to Charlotte before it finally folded. Barber caught on with the WFL Chicago Wind in 1975 but left to accept a scouting position with the Bills."
-Buffalo Bills 1977 Press-Radio-TV Yearbook
Saturday, December 12, 2015
1977 Profile: Pat McGroder
Vice-President
"An early champion of Buffalo's AFL franchise was Patrick J. McGroder, the city's sports coordinator at the time Ralph Wilson brought the young Bills to Western New York. At Wilson's insistence, McGroder joined the club's front office in 1962 as Vice-President. The longtime Buffalo native serves as the organization's advertising sales coordinator and handles other special duties at the management level.
McGroder attended St. Joseph's Collegiate Institute and Hutchinson High School, and Canisuius and Chattanooga Colleges. He founded McKinley Liquor Company in 1942 after achieving the position of National Sales Representative for W.A. Taylor Importers. McGroder was the Buffalo Athletic Club's Sportsman of the Year in 1955 and winner of the Chamber of Commerce 'Good Government Award' three years later. His efforts in promoting professional football games for Buffalo nearly enabled him to secure an NFL franchise for the city.
He has remained fast friends with such legendary pro football figures as George Halas of Chicago and Art Rooney of Pittsburgh. In addition to sports coordinator, McGroder also served as Buffalo Parks Commissioner and President of the Police Athletic League."
-Buffalo Bills 1977 Press-Radio-TV Yearbook
"An early champion of Buffalo's AFL franchise was Patrick J. McGroder, the city's sports coordinator at the time Ralph Wilson brought the young Bills to Western New York. At Wilson's insistence, McGroder joined the club's front office in 1962 as Vice-President. The longtime Buffalo native serves as the organization's advertising sales coordinator and handles other special duties at the management level.
McGroder attended St. Joseph's Collegiate Institute and Hutchinson High School, and Canisuius and Chattanooga Colleges. He founded McKinley Liquor Company in 1942 after achieving the position of National Sales Representative for W.A. Taylor Importers. McGroder was the Buffalo Athletic Club's Sportsman of the Year in 1955 and winner of the Chamber of Commerce 'Good Government Award' three years later. His efforts in promoting professional football games for Buffalo nearly enabled him to secure an NFL franchise for the city.
He has remained fast friends with such legendary pro football figures as George Halas of Chicago and Art Rooney of Pittsburgh. In addition to sports coordinator, McGroder also served as Buffalo Parks Commissioner and President of the Police Athletic League."
-Buffalo Bills 1977 Press-Radio-TV Yearbook
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